A Seemingly Useless Collection of Junk
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: Future!Fic. Five things of Wally's that Artemis gets rid of after they get married, and one thing that she lets him keep.


_A/N: A future!fic. Wally and Artemis are around twenty-five here. I gave Artemis Linda's job because I can easily picture her as an aggressive reporter. Wally's Flash cutout was inspired by the one that he had in his apartment in Justice League Unlimited._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or the characters used. They are property of DC Comics and Cartoon Network. I also do not own Rebecca Black's song "Friday"; that would belong to her and her record company._

**A Seemingly Useless Collection of Junk**

Artemis West stood outside an apartment building in Central City far too early for a Saturday, waiting for the moving company. Her husband Wally had all but nodded off against the bricks of the building and the blonde could hardly blame him. She shook him awake for the tenth time that morning as she spotted the bright orange moving van down the street.

Early as it was, the archer had a very good reason for having the movers arrive at the building at the agreed upon time. Wally was a notorious pack rat and presumably had parted with none of the junk that his "bachelor pad" had been stuffed with. She had been too busy with the wedding planning and packing up her own apartment in Gotham to supervise Wally's progress, so her plan was to weed through some of the boxes now before allowing anything to be carried upstairs.

The movers opened the back of the truck and Artemis climbed up. The storage space was filled to the brim with box after box of Wally's possessions. The new Mrs. West took a quick peek through the first few boxes and found nothing but clothes and books. She gave her approval to the movers and they started hauling containers to apartment 2J.

She found nothing too unnecessary until she got to the back of the truck. There she found a green leather couch. This particular piece of furniture was a remnant of the days of Young Justice. The team had disbanded over five years ago, but Wally was nostalgic and had "rescued" the couch from the mountain base. Artemis was not nearly as sentimental as her husband and had no issues with getting rid of an old beat up couch.

"Wally," she called, and the redheaded man climbed up beside her. He looked slightly more awake now, but he still wasn't quite with it yet. Artemis crossed her arms over her chest. "What is this? And if you say it's a couch I'm not going to be very happy."

"Of course it's not just a couch," Wally replied as if it were obvious. "It's got history. I seem to remember kissing you a lot on this couch."

The blonde woman was far from convinced. "It's old and it smells like pizza and fart. Besides, Ollie and Dinah got us a nice sofa and loveseat for a wedding present. We don't need this one." She turned her dark gaze onto the movers. "I'll give you an extra fifty bucks if you haul this away with you when you go."

Wally's shoulders slumped, and his wife felt something almost like guilt. "I'll tell you what. When the movers are gone, we'll break in the new couch."

0o0o0o0

Artemis pushed open the door to 2J two days later. She was completely sure she had nailed her job interview and she was looking forward to telling Wally the good news.

As she kicked off her uncomfortable shoes, the archer had the unmistakable feeling that someone was watching her. She turned around to see a life-sized cardboard cutout of the Flash. Artemis nearly screamed in surprise but she stopped herself just in time. "It's just a cutout," she said to herself. "It's fake." But nevertheless she stomped over to where it stood and spun it around to face the wall.

An hour later when Wally got home, she caught him fixing the replica. "Why is this in the corner?" he asked, green eyes curious. And then something seemed to dawn on him. "I almost forgot. How did the job interview go? Do I get to brag to everyone about being married to the best reporter in Central City?"

"The job interview went great. They were really impressed. I'll know for sure by the end of the week." Artemis saw Wally grin before he crossed the room in an instant to capture her in a bear hug and then kiss her. He was still grinning when they parted. Artemis continued answering her husband's questions. "As for the Flash cutout, it nearly gave me a heart attack."

The redhead bit back a laugh. "So you _are_ capable of getting scared. You learn something new every day." He straightened the prop, looking awfully smug.

Artemis scowled at her husband. "I was not scared. I was startled. And you would be too if you came home and felt like someone was watching you. Where did you even find this?"

"I packed it ages ago. I found it when I was looking through boxes earlier. There's a small, important container of mine that I can't find. But then I saw the prop from the commercial I did as the Flash last year and thought I should put it out."

"I don't like it. Every time I see it out of the corner of my eye it-"

"Scares you?" Wally interrupted with a chuckle. "Okay, I guess I don't _really_ need it. There's a little boy on our floor who might like it."

Artemis managed a smile. "Thank you."

"Getting to tell everyone that a piece of cardboard scared you is worth it," the fastest man alive told the archer. "Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his arm where Artemis's fist landed.

0o0o0o0

A month into living in Central City, Artemis felt like she was adjusting well. It was no Gotham, but she viewed that as a good thing. The blonde archer smiled to herself as she let herself in and headed straight to the bathroom for a shower, purposely ignoring what hung on the wall in her bedroom.

Artemis was relaxing in her pajamas when Wally arrived home. "Hey," he greeted. "I saw your newscast. You looked absolutely gorgeous. I didn't like the way the weatherman was eyeing you though."

"Well, why wouldn't he be staring?" Artemis replied with a smirk. Wally frowned, eyes narrowing, and Artemis continued to smirk. "You know I'm just messing with you."

Wally was at her side in an instant, pulling her into a long, lingering kiss. "I know."

Artemis pulled Wally down to her again, settling among the pillows with his familiar weight covering her. Wally expertly let Artemis's hair out of its messy ponytail with one hand while searching for one of her hands with the other. He knotted his fingers through hers, kissing her again as he did so. And then the redhead noticed his wife was not looking at him at all. She was looking at the Batman poster that hung on the wall opposite their bed. "Something wrong?"

The blonde woman looked conflicted. "I really didn't want to bring this up after I made you get rid of the couch and the Flash cutout, but it's that stupid poster. I can't concentrate on us with Batman staring at me. It's bad enough in real life, but this is just creepy." To Artemis's credit, she really did sound sincere.

Wally frowned again. "I hung this up two weeks ago. Why are you just now saying something?" He shifted his weight away from his wife, trying to get a better look at her. "It's not like you to keep quiet about things that upset you."

Artemis nodded. "I know it's not. It's just that I already got my way twice where your stuff was concerned. I didn't want our marriage to start out with me getting rid of everything of yours that I dislike. Because if I _did_ get rid of everything of yours that I think is stupid or useless, you wouldn't have anything left."

The Flash laughed. "Don't I know it." Wally wrapped his arms around Artemis, arranging their bodies into a position that could only be defined as cuddling. Artemis made herself comfortable next to her husband, kind of glad that she'd avoided a fight. She felt Wally's lips drop a kiss onto her hair and saw his gaze land on the Batman poster. The archer noticed that Wally's eyes didn't stray from the decoration, and then they slowly grew round with horror.

"You're right," the hero assured his wife. "It _is_ creepy." Before Artemis could register what was happening, Wally had crossed the room and was in the process of tearing the poster down. When that was done, he returned to the spot next to Artemis and resumed his previous position. "Much better."

0o0o0o0

The following Friday when Artemis arrived home, she found Wally getting ready for a night out with the guys. It was something that the five men tried to do at least once a month no matter what else they might have going on. The last gathering had been during their honeymoon, so Wally was particularly looking forward to this one.

He stood half dressed in the bathroom, studying his face closely as he shaved. He called a greeting to Artemis as she passed.

When Wally was finished in the bathroom, he found his wife watching TV in the living room. "Are you going to be okay here for the night?" he asked. "I could always cancel."

"I'll be fine. You need to go see your friends. Besides, some girls from work invited me to go out with them for the night."

"Aw, you have 'girls from work.' That's adorable!" the redhead yelled over his shoulder as he made his way down the hallway to the bedroom they shared. Artemis rolled her eyes at her husband. She heard him mumbling to himself and rummaging through his dresser drawers. "Honey, have you seen my shirt?"

'_How specific,'_ Artemis thought as she got up from the couch and followed Wally's path down the corridor to their room. She frowned at the sight of what appeared to be at least half of Wally's wardrobe piled on the floor. "Which shirt?"

"The one with the writing on it," Wally mumbled vaguely as he continued to search through the mountain of clothes he had created singlehandedly.

"That's not helping," Artemis informed him. "You have a lot of shirts with writing."

"You know, it's the one that says 'Here I Am, What are Your Other Two Wishes?' I had it last week; I know I did. I always wear it to guys' night out."

Artemis bobbed her head. "I know the one." Wally's expression brightened, only to darken once more when Artemis spoke up again. "I threw it out."

The Flash looked deeply betrayed. "Why would you do that? You had to know it was one of my favorite shirts. And if I ever threw out something of yours without asking if it was alright first, you'd use me for target practice."

The archer folded her arms. "First of all, I'd have to catch you to be able to use you for target practice. Second, that shirt was old and it was time for it to go. The phrase sounded like one of the lame pick up lines you used to use on Megan."

Wally was not nearly ready to let the argument drop, however. "That's not the point, Artemis! Look, I know you probably thought you were helping, but it's not okay for you to just decide that you get to throw out my stuff that you don't like. You already got rid of my couch, my cutout of the Flash, and my Batman poster. You're not my mom; you're my wife. This place is half mine, so I don't see why I'm the only one who has to give stuff up!"

Artemis's face flushed bright red. "I moved halfway across the country for you! I left everything behind in Gotham: my home, my mom, my _career_…"

"Oh, so _that's_ what this is about. Well, I'm sorry that your career won't be as high profile out here in the middle of nowhere as it would be in the big city! If you're so concerned about being a famous journalist, maybe you should have stayed in Gotham!"

"Maybe I should have!"

Wally's face paled, his freckles standing out even more than usual. "Come on, Artemis, you know I didn't really mean that. You know I don't wish you had stayed in Gotham." The speedster got up from the floor and took a few steps towards his wife. "I'm sorry I overreacted."

"I guess I'm sorry that I threw your stupid shirt out without asking your permission first. And for the record, I don't wish I had stayed in Gotham, either. I think Central City is going to be good for me. You know I don't care about being the next Lois Lane." Artemis finished her little speech with a grin that slowly turned into full blown laughter.

The Flash looked confused. "What's so funny?"

"I just can't believe we had our first fight as a married couple over a stupid shirt."

0o0o0o0

"I swear, if you don't take that stupid thing off the wall right now-"

"You'll be mad? Ooh, I'm _scared_. It's not like you've never been mad at me before, Artemis. In fact, ten minutes from now you'll decide you don't like how I folded the towels and you'll be mad about that!"

The blonde woman huffed. "Oh please, _Wallace_. I'm not that petty. But you're right. I am mad at you a lot. Mostly because you keep bringing stupid stuff into the house that we _don't _need!"

"It's funny! It'll entertain everyone who comes to visit."

"It's _not_ funny, Wally. I came out here to get a glass of water last night and the motion sensor detected me. It gave me a heart attack when it started singing!"

The redhead looked skeptical. "That's the second time you've claimed my stuff gave you a heart attack. Maybe you should see a doctor."

"If you didn't have creepy, idiotic things lying around the apartment it wouldn't happen."

A new voice broke into the argument. "Enough! Both of you."

The Wests blinked in surprise as Dick made his presence known. "How did you get in here?" Wally demanded of his best friend. He was used to the younger man's ninja tendencies but he hated it when Dick used his skills to drop in unannounced.

Dick rolled his eyes. "The door was unlocked." He took a few steps closer to his friends, causing the item they were arguing over to go off.

"_It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday…"_

The former Boy Wonder arched an eyebrow. "_That's_ what you're arguing over?" Artemis nodded, dark eyes still narrowed. Dick turned to Wally. "She's right, Wally. That has to go."

"Dude, whose side are you on?" Wally muttered as Nightwing began taking down the singing bass mounted on the wall. Artemis looked rather smug as Wally pouted.

When the singing fish had been taken away, the younger man spoke up. "Look, if I hadn't gotten rid of the Rebecca Black fish, Artemis would've ended up in Arkham."

The Flash burst into laughter.

0o0o0o0

Wally waited impatiently for Artemis to arrive home. He had finally tracked down his missing box and he wanted to share the good news. Being the fastest man alive meant he was not good at being patient.

It seemed to be an eternity before Artemis finally got home, though it was no later than usual for her. As soon as he saw his wife's face, Wally made his announcement. "I have great news, Artemis."

The blonde reporter smiled. "I saw the footage. You managed to stop that bank robbery without letting any of the hostages be injured. Very impressive."

"Yeah, that was pretty good too," Wally mused. "But that wasn't what I was talking about. I finally found the box that got lost in the move. My old landlord found it in the closet when he was showing the apartment to a new renter. He was nice enough to bring it by for me."

Artemis nodded as she stepped out of her shoes. "Ah, the mysterious box that you thought was doomed. So do I finally get to learn what all important idiotic thing was in said box?"

Wally grinned. "It's hanging in the bedroom."

The blonde hung her purse from the back of a kitchen chair before padding towards their room. "Wally, I swear to God if it's that Green Lantern clock I saw you looking at online, I'm going to file for divorce," Artemis called over her shoulder. Wally laughed to himself.

Artemis came back a moment later with the item clutched in her hand. "Is this…it can't be…that was over ten years ago." She held out the object for him to see.

It was the arrow she had saved his life with before they had even officially met. Wally's sappy smile was proof enough for the archer. "Why did you keep this?"

The redhead was next to her in the blink of an eye. "I'm a pack rat, remember? Plus, it's kind of how we met." Artemis arched an eyebrow skeptically. "Okay, so it's not really how we met. But it's a much better story than me tripping over my own two feet."

Artemis smiled again before pulling Wally down to her and kissing him. "Well, it's kind of sweet," she decided when they parted. "You can keep it."


End file.
